Sugar for Your Coffee
by LostInTheDreams
Summary: Furuya Rei, as a person, needs to change jobs on the fly for his real work. How he does it so fast is a mystery to all those who only look at the big picture. Things are often much simpler than they seem.


**Sugar for Your Coffee**

Rei starred at those around him with little care to what he was observing as his focus was aimed internally.

He had been wrong.

While it hadn't been quite that black and white, he did feel he had messed up and that hadn't happened in a very long time. The odds were so against the possibility that the genes were the same that he had completely overlooked them – or, if the thought had crossed his mind, he had dismissed it.

Someone else had solved the case, both before him and with a deduction that was so outrageous that he hadn't believed it could be true.

Sighing, Rei noticed the scent of coffee when he breathed back in and looked down. He hadn't ordered anything since he had been here and the waitress that had come over to him had seemed happy enough to let him be with so little other customers in the establishment that he hadn't thought she'd be back.

Placing his hand an inch above the cup he felt the slight tickle of steam against his fingers. It was still warm then, so it couldn't have been that long ago. Taking a sip her found the coffee pretty good. It wasn't as if it were rare to find good coffee, but he was rather picky, and he liked his black so it was easier to tell the taste differences when they weren't masked under anything.

Rei didn't miss the waitress walking over to him a third time as he smiled at her and checked her out more thoroughly than the had the first time. Her shoes were quiet enough he could see why he had ignored her, and her presence was rather dull, even if her looks were above average.

"Sir, do you like the coffee? I've never seen you around here before and you looked pretty down. I've been told our coffee helps perk up anyone. This one's on me."

"Thank you." Rei knew he'd end up paying for it anyway. He wouldn't hurt the business, had the cash, and liked the drink. "Sorry about my lack of appetite. How about… how about a sandwich? Whatever you think is best."

Her smile brightened significantly, as if she'd just has a weight taken of her shoulders. "Sure thing. I'll be right back."

Rei watched her walk away before staring out towards the window. The seats near it had already been filled and he didn't feel like overhearing too much of the conversation around him, so he had seated himself in the corner as far from anyone else as he could. He likely looked suspicious for doing so – let alone coming here alone and then not ordering anything.

Rei looked over at the waitress once more when she came back with his sandwich… if he could call it that. The lettuce was off center enough to be noticeable and was, for some reason, placed _under_ the meat – as if this girl had never made a sandwich in her life. The rest of whatever was in the sandwich was likely hidden under the overly large, skewed lettuce.

Feeling his eyes overlooking her work he looked up again to see her blush. "I'm sorry. Not a lot of people order sandwiches with their coffee. I could make you another one if you like."

"It's fine. I'm not that hungry." Rei took apart the Frankenstein creation, putting it in the correct order and realizing, as he did, that there was no mayonnaise or dressing of any sort on it. While he'd eaten sandwiches dry before, it wasn't something he was looking forward to. "Actually, do you mind if I, perhaps, made my own?" He looked around just to be sure that they only customers here were the ones near the window. "It shouldn't take me long. I know it's an unusual request but there really aren't that many customers and-"

"Oh, no, it's fine. Master," The waitress spoke to the man behind the counter who Rei could guarantee had been the one to make the coffee he enjoyed. "Do you mind terrible if this customer here…"

"Amuro Toru."

"Amuro-san comes back into the kitchen with me and tells me what he wants on his sandwich so I can make it if we have it?"

"Hm… Well, I don't see why not. Just don't try anything funny." The man, somewhere later on it his years that his appearance openly displayed, tried to be as stern looking as possible as he spoke. He didn't pull it off well. There were some people that simply couldn't sound intimidating to anyone past puberty.

"No worries." Rei raised his hands. "I'm not interested in anything more than a sandwich." He was hungry and he had been working most of the day. Food was starting to look more and more appealing and having something go right his way would be a first.

"Alright then. Go ahead." The man tipped his head towards the kitchen and Rei stood, following the meek little waitress, shoving his hands in his pockets just to show that he didn't plan on touching anything.

The kitchen was neat, as it should be, and Rei found little trouble in instructing the waitress in how to prepare a normal sandwich, which customers after him would have to appreciate.

It took less than ten minutes – where it would have only taken him three or four on his own – to have the sandwich ready. Instead of handing it to him though, the waitress picked it up and looked at it.

"You know, you're kind of weird."

Rei coughed a little, drawing a hand out of his pocket to hide it. "Pardon?"

"Oh no, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it that way. I just- this is my first time making a sandwich like this. It'll save on some of the bread too. It's a wonderful idea and I'm wondering how it would taste." She blushed and turned to him, placing it back on the plate before handing both over. "I'm sorry."

"No need to worry." Rei reached over, grabbing the knife she had used and cut the sandwich in half. "Go ahead. I won't tell if you won't." He smiled, putting one finger to his lips and closing his eyes a moment in his best attempt at looking harmless.

The waitress looked around as if the Master could have snuck back here to check on them, which to be fair, he could have. Reaching out she took a bite of the sandwich and smiled, speaking after only she finished chewing. "It's really good."

"Thank you. It's nothing all that special. Someone taught me how to cook when I was young." Rei took the other half, taking a bite himself before putting it down. "Well, I'd better go before he thinks I'm doing something naughty back here with you."

She laughed quietly, putting her half of the sandwich in a small bag. "It's fine. Besides, I learned something and you seem in better spirits too."

Rei was a little taken a back that she really cared all that much about how he was feeling. "It wasn't that big of a deal. It was just a bad day at work." He shrugged. "Everyone has them I suppose. It's simply harder to take in my line of work."

"Oh? What do you do?"

Rei tensed a little but it wasn't like it was that hard of a question to answer. "I'm a waiter, actually. And a detective on the side, if I get a case."

The waitress just smiled, as if it were common to have a detective walk in here. He knew Mouri lived upstairs somewhere, it was why he was here – and, if he were honest, a bit curious about him – but there couldn't be _that_ many that seeing a second had so little impact.

"Which one?"

"Which one?" I repeated the question, unsure what she was asking.

She laughed again, only half as long. "Which one did you have a bad day doing?"

That was a fairly good question and Rei had to think on it. The restaurant hadn't liked it that he had a professional job as a detective as well, and the owner had been mad that he had 'brought in such business'. Of course it hadn't been _his_ fault, it had been his customer's fiancée, but he hadn't cared about the details. The main point was the man had been there because of his investigation and now they had to work around the fact that someone had died in their parking lot.

"Both I guess." Rei smiled, shrugging a little. "I think I got fired and I never did get paid for either one."

"You could always work here, you know," the waitress brought up, tipping her head to the side with that smile of hers. "We don't really have all that many people jumping at the opportunity and I bet you're food would be popular. You have the experience so I'm sure Master wouldn't mind."

Rei thought about going from one job as a waiter to another job as a waiter. He hadn't really cared when he took on that first job; it was simply easier to hear any gossip when you were around people all day. Here she was giving him that opportunity, and being under the Mouri Agency, Rei was sure he'd get a lot more intel.

That, and he still wanted to look into Mouri Kogoro. The man's name had come up before, when he had been looking into Akai Shuuichi, and he had thought nothing of it at the time. Clearly there was more to him than the bumbling, gambling, drunk he had first assumed him to be when he'd briefly observed him.

"That would actually be really great. I don't think I can give you my references from my last job. They sort of clashed with one another and I can't give out customer information as a detective."

"I'm sure that'll be fine. Master here loves detective stories so, as long as you share a few and don't leave the store unattended if you wind up alone, I doubt he'd mind. Oh, you probably will need to fill out an application though."

"That's no problem. Do you mind if I start tomorrow?"

The waitress chuckled. "I'll talk to Master. If he 'okay's you, I'm sure tomorrow will work. Mouri Kogoro is right upstairs so you won't be the only detective around. He comes down here once in a while for his morning coffee. You might get lucky and get to meet him."

Rei smiled, a bit larger than he normally would have allowed. "I can't wait."


End file.
